FIM Ice Speedway of Nations
Date of the meeting: 29/02/2020 and 01/03/2020
Time: 29/02/2020 – 17:00 CET
01/03/2020 – 14:00 CET
Team racing returns to Berlin where the forty second edition of this FIM World Championship will be held next week at the Horst Dohm Eis-Stadion. Rebranded last year as the FIM Ice Speedway of Nations it features seven teams, each of two riders plus one reserve, riding in pairs over forty-two heats and will end with a Final where the two top teams race for the gold medal and championship title. There will also be a race off between the third and fourth teams for the bronze medal.
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Russia as always will be favourites to retain the title that they have won thirty seven times already and with three World individual ice speedway champions in their squad it would be a major upset if they do not collect the gold medal at the end of racing on Sunday afternoon. Daniil Ivanov the current World Champion and Dmitry Khomitsevich lead the team with Igor Kononov replacing Dmitry Koltakov as reserve from last year’s trio, which raced unbeaten in Togliatti. They will be expecting to repeat this feat in Berlin, but with the possibility of an upset in the final heat there is increased interest in the chances of the other teams reaching the last race.
Sweden, runners up last year field their strongest team with Martin Haarahiltunen and Niclas Svensson. Add in veteran Stefan Svensson at reserve and they have a squad with the potential to cause an upset. Austria could also trouble the Russians if Franz Zorn could recapture the form that we know he is capable of. Harald Simon is enjoying his best season for some time and if both ride at their best they could prove to be formidable opponents. Waiting in the pits will be reserve Charley Ebner who is gaining valuable experience this year as a permanent rider in the individual World Championship.
The German team will have the support of thousands of home fans and will aim at least to repeat their 2017 bronze medal success. Johan Weber has shown that he is good enough to beat any of the riders present although as a tactical measure by Team Manager Bernd Sagert he will be on standby as reserve to Marcus Jell the current German champion and captain Max Niedermaier.
The remaining teams seem destined to finish in the lower half of the field although the Czech Republic include the very experienced Jan Klatovský as captain with support from Lukáš Hutla and Andrej Diviš and could prove troublesome to the leaders. It is a measure of the resurgence of interest in Ice Speedway in Khazakstan that they have entered a team for the first time for some years, but they have limited experience at major events. Similarly, Finland could struggle to match the speed and fitness of the others.
Racing in Berlin will start at 17.00 on Saturday and 14.00 on Sunday afternoon and for spectators who arrive early, the German Championships will be held at the stadium on Thursday evening at 17.00.
FIM Communications